Population-wise, Chattanooga’s metro is about half the size of Birmingham, and just a hair larger than Huntsville.

Henon will serve on a panel of real estate mega agents at the first Alabama Residential Real Estate Conference & Expo on May 4 in Birmingham.

ACREres will take place at The Club, atop Red Mountain. Click here to purchase tickets or reserve a table of eight

We recently caught up with Henon, who is an expert in residential, land and farms and estates, and we asked him about some of the traits that separate the mega agents from their peers.

ACRE: What is a major challenge a real estate agent faces when trying to build a business and gain traction in their market?

Henon: It’s the segue of delegation and time management. It’s learning to delegate the task that can be versus I can do it all…You’re running a business…That is the demon every day. It is the difference between, do I have my real estate hat on or do I have my business hat on, and I’m running a business and managing a group of 10 people.

ACRE: What are some strategies younger agents can use to get a foothold in the industry?

Henon: Be an expert on a micro level on something. All of us want to say we’re experts in blank, and then we throw up this list of what we’re experts in, but I think all of us value deep knowledge at a micro level. Know something better than anyone. Whether it’s your street, your subdivision, your community, your zip code - know it better. What I have found that happens is if you are able to hold your own in that discussion - that conversation - you gain credibility, and people come back when there is a real estate need, because they’ve experienced some level of knowledge that set you apart from the crowd.

ACRE: Agents face all kinds of issues these days, whether it be marketing or lower supply levels. How do they combat these obstacles?

Henon: The thing that separates those that succeed and those that don’t is the ones who succeed, regardless of their tenure, regardless of their time in the industry and bench strength, is that they have no excuses. Is it 10 o’clock at night and we’re on the phone? Yes. Are we knocking on doors on open house day? Yes. Do we work Saturdays? Yes. Do we work Sundays? Yes. Do we quit? No. It is a relentless pursuit. There is no quit. A new agent coming in has to know more than the other new agents. They’ve got to have their ear to the ground, and they have to be there…When we know something that other people don’t, we’ve bumped up our horsepower a bit.

ACRE: What is a lesson you’ve learned from being the business for almost 20 years?

Henon: It’s a relationship business, and come from a place of contribution. You will never want for work. We don’t have a secret sauce or magic…We market in a lot of different venues and with a lot of different methods, but at the end of the day, we establish relationships, we contribute to their quality of life and they hire us because they have a felt need. If we handle that transaction at a high level, they keep returning.